


A Place We Could Escape Sometime

by MalenkayaCherepakha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gardener Neville, Getting Together, Post War, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 06:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18685915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalenkayaCherepakha/pseuds/MalenkayaCherepakha
Summary: After the war, gardening becomes Neville's escape, and he finds his talents in demand. But can gardening help him finally get together with the woman he loves?





	A Place We Could Escape Sometime

**Author's Note:**

> I suddenly found myself inspired to write something about Neville's relationship with plants, and here's the result! I'm so glad I managed to finish it in time for the Growing Neville fest - thank you [Keyflight790](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keyflight790/) for modding such a wonderful fest. 
> 
> Thank you also to [Saphira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saphira_black/pseuds/saphira_black) and [Ana-Iliad](https://ana-iliad.tumblr.com/) for looking over this fic for me ❤️

They’d all come up with their own ways of coping, after it ended. 

Hermione had buried herself in books in preparation for going back to school, Ron had become the stalwart of the family, taking on the responsibility of getting his siblings and parents through their devastating loss. Harry and Ginny had sunk into each other before their love borne of desperation flamed out almost as quickly as it had begun. Harry then turned to work, dedicating hours to his Auror training, while Ginny spent endless days flying around the Weasley’s garden. 

And Neville? 

Neville lost himself in plants. 

His grandmother’s garden was huge, full of endless borders and hidden nooks and crannies. That first summer after the war was beautiful, day after day of bright sunshine and cloudless skies, as if even Mother Nature was celebrating the vanquishing of evil. Neville spent hours just wandering through the garden, taking in the details of all the flowers and bushes, watching as the seedlings sprouted into beautiful blooms. 

It was in that garden that he rebuilt himself. 

The simple beauty of the flowers and the slow rhythm of nature helped him gradually work through the events of the past few years, helped him process the trauma of that final year with the Carrows, and come to terms with his new status as a hero. The press was full of praise for him, and their interest in him only grew as Harry retreated into work, but the garden was a safe haven from all of that. 

Slowly, Neville began to work on the garden. Some sections of it had been long neglected, and he spent months breathing new life into them, clearing weeds and encouraging new plants to take root. He was good at it, and soon those areas were even more wonderful than the rest of the garden, the love and care he had poured into them shining through. 

He’d never thought of making a career out of gardening, or even considered that other people might want to make use of his talents until Hermione came to visit one day. They took their mugs out into the garden and began to wander around as they chatted. 

Hermione was in the middle of telling Neville all about the house she and Ron had just bought, explaining all the work she wanted to do to it when she stopped dead in the middle of the path. 

‘You could do it!’ she said, grabbing Neville’s arm slightly too tightly.

‘I could do what?’ Neville said, regretting having tuned out of the conversation several minutes previously, thoughts of his struggling begonias distracting him. 

‘Our garden!’ Hermione said excitedly. ‘It’s such a mess, I’m not sure the previous owner ever even set foot in it, but it could be so beautiful. You’ve done such a wonderful job here - I’d be over the moon if our garden ever looked like this.’

‘Oh, well, yes I suppose I could do it for you.’ Neville said. As Hermione began to chatter away about her visions for the garden, Neville felt himself grow more and more excited. He’d done so much work on his grandmother’s garden that he was running out of things to do, so the prospect of a rundown space with so much potential filled him with anticipation to get started. 

Ron and Hermione adored the work Neville did to their garden, raving constantly about how he had transformed it from a wasteland into a stunning cottage garden, filled with brightly coloured flowers and herbs that Ron loved to cook with. They also loved to have people around to visit their house, and by extension the garden, and so all their friends were soon in awe of Neville’s talents too. 

Soon, Neville was overrun with people wanting him to sort out their gardens. He turned down all but his closest friends, still wary of people who only wanted to hire him because of his celebrity status. 

He steadily began to redo the gardens of each of his friends, designing each one in conjunction with its owner, finding ways to reflect their personality through his choice of plants and styles. 

Ginny’s garden was mostly lawn, with plenty of space for her to practice Quidditch drills and big tall trees that kept her out of sight of her neighbours. The flowerbeds that ran along the edges of the lawns were filled with cuttings from the garden at the Burrow, filling the garden with the scents and colours of her childhood. 

Dean and Seamus only had a small rooftop garden on the top of their converted warehouse in London, but Neville still managed to work his magic there. Walking out of the room Dean used as his studio, you were greeted by a riot of colour, and when you sat at the little iron bistro table, you could almost forget you were in the middle of a bustling city entirely. 

Harry and Draco’s garden was one of the most challenging he had designed. Neville usually discussed his ideas with the garden’s owner, but Harry waved him away, telling him to just do what he wanted, and even Draco, who was normally so particular about his house, only gave Neville the barest guidelines. 

Neville spent hours researching plants, trying to find the perfect species to use in his design. No other garden had taken him so long, but the results of his hard work were spectacular. Harry and Draco were speechless when Neville showed them the finished garden for the first time, Harry’s eyes filling with tears as he took in the borders filled with lilies and roses and daisies. 

Then, finally, when all the others were done, it was time to work on Luna’s garden. It was simultaneously the one he’d been dreading the most, but also looking forward to desperately. 

Neville and Luna had grown closer during his last year of school, coming to rely on each other during those horrible months, needing each other to survive. Neville hadn’t properly realised it at the time, too consumed with survival and the darkness that surrounded them, but in the months after the war, while he tended his grandmother’s garden, he came to realise that his feelings for Luna ran far deeper than friendship. 

But then Luna went away. As soon as she finished school, she was off, travelling across the world on adventures, looking for mysterious magical creatures. Neville didn’t have a chance to say anything, let alone explore where his feelings might go if they spent more time together.

And now she was back and asking him for help with her garden. Neville was nervous about spending so much time with her, worried that he would be unable to hide his feelings, scared about how she would react to them. 

His nerves melted away as soon as he arrived at Luna’s house on the morning they were due to start work. He’d built everything up in his head, but when Luna opened the door to him that morning, it was as if they’d never spent any time apart. 

After Neville talked through his ideas, they quickly got started on clearing the weeds and creating space for the new plants he wanted to add. They quickly fell into sync as they worked, their chatter reducing as they got absorbed in their task. Neville felt himself sink into the old feeling of comfort, of silent acceptance that he’d always felt around Luna, and realised just how much he’d been missing it while she had been away. 

The days passed quickly as they worked, the garden slowly taking shape. Each evening, Neville went home exhausted but with his heart full, overjoyed at the way the garden was evolving before his eyes. As each day passed, he also left with more and more hope. He was starting to suspect that Luna reciprocated his feelings. 

Every now and then, as they gardened, their hands would meet, and sparks would flash up Neville’s arm. As the touches grew more frequent, Neville began to chance a look up at Luna when they made contact. He thought he saw the desire he felt reflected back at him, but was happy to wait, to let whatever was building between them take its time. 

Soon, far too soon, the garden was finished. 

The old, flowerless shrubs and withered plants were replaced by bushes that gave off delightful scents and trees whose boughs bent with the weight of their beautiful flowers. Neville had purposefully chosen more unusual looking plants, with multi-coloured blooms and magical properties that could be used to cure all kinds of ailments. The garden was designed to attract as many creatures, magical and non-magical alike, as possible, and also to be low maintenance so that Luna could go on adventures without worrying about it. 

He had tried to make the garden a true reflection of Luna, of the wonderful, incredible person that she was. He had poured all his feelings into it as he worked, and they shone through in the bright blues and yellows of the flowers and the vivid green of the leaves. 

Neville had refused to let Luna help him on the last day, wanting to be able to show her the finished garden properly. When he determined that everything was perfect, he went inside the house to get Luna. 

‘Cover your eyes?’ he said quietly just before he opened the door to the garden. 

Once Luna had put her hands over her eyes, Neville took a deep breath, and took hold of her hand, guiding her out of the house and on to the small patio. 

‘You can look.’

As Luna dropped her hands and looked around the garden, Neville watched her. He watched the way her large eyes widened even further as she took in the full change, the way her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. His heart felt so full, overflowing with love, breaking slightly at the thought that their time together was over. 

‘Oh, Neville,’ Luna said softly once she had looked her fill. 

She turned to him, tears welling up in her eyes. 

‘It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Thank you, thank you so much.’

Neville didn’t respond, couldn’t speak, too overcome by the emotion of the moment, the culmination of the journey that had begun with him slowly pottering around his grandmother’s garden.

Luna, as she always had, understood him perfectly, even without words.

He stood frozen as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, hugging him tightly. Automatically, his arms came up to hug her back, and for a long moment they stood like that, holding each other tightly.

Luna pulled back, and they simply looked at each other for a moment, all the unsaid words and feelings flowing between them. Neville felt like he was in a dream as he watched Luna’s eyes flick down to his mouth, as he took in the unspoken question in her eyes and nodded, ever so slightly. 

The feeling of Luna’s lips pressing oh so gently against his was like nothing he could have ever imagined, all his dreams coming true as they melted into each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Would love to hear what you thought 😊
> 
> You can also come find me on Tumblr: [MalenkayaCherepakha](https://malenkayacherepakha.tumblr.com/)


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